At any rate Rand characterized those less presently attuned to innovative Capital employment and individuality, and instead seeking government favors, by that moocher term, even having a character whose last name was Mooch (or something like that, Atlas does not remember for sure). With that lead-in, Strib reports:
Medtronic Inc. has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby their ex-colleagues against legislation that could undermine the company’s plans to move its headquarters overseas through a merger, saving it billions in taxes.
Public records show that Medtronic has paid a firm led by former Sens. Trent Lott and John Breaux $200,000 to discuss bills in the Senate and House that would restrict the transplantation of corporate headquarters abroad to save on U.S. taxes, known as inversion deals.
The involvement of the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group comes amid escalating controversy and public backlash over tax-advantaged corporate relocations like Medtronic’s proposed $42.9 billion acquisition of the Irish company Covidien. President Obama has called the trend unpatriotic and asked Congress to pass laws to stop it.
[...] The Fridley-based company’s public filings say that Breaux and Lott will work on bills under consideration that could undo the Covidien purchase as it is now proposed.
“Medtronic routinely employs outside counsel to represent its interest to public policymakers,” a spokesman said in an e-mail to the Star Tribune. “This firm was hired to provide public policy representation and was disclosed fully as required. Our position is we can’t speculate on what might happen but continue to follow the discussions in Washington, D.C., closely and are actively engaging with policymakers on the issues related to our proposed acquisition.”
The Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, which is owned by one of Washington’s most powerful law firms, Patton Boggs, did not return a call seeking comment. Breaux is a former Democratic senator from Louisiana, and Lott is a former Senate majority leader, R-Miss.
And there is further story detail at Strib. Even mentioning a few Minnesota names [people, not places or things].
What has this world come to? Breaux-Lott in an across-the-aisle handshake to screw all the other taxpayers in the nation besides their client Medtronic, and like-minded tax avoiders? Of course not.
It is mere short-sightedness to be critical of steps to free the job creators from the bondage of government red tape, and that the short-sighted critics miss the level of patriotism attaching to an asking-and-accepting by a few former dedicated public servants to reenter a public fray to help remove the boot of the state from off the job creator backs so they can get up and do their major purpose in being corporate-person leadership human-persons, (and do not think such major purpose is to make and sell medical devices, because that business profit purpose is secondary to the job creators' basic main job duty, which is to create jobs, precisely as they are so skilled to do so that a rising tide can lift all boats).
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Absent ill-advised sore sports interfering with the movement of Atlas shifting money amounts around his globe a bit, the clear truth has to be that with more willing patriots such as our great and honorable former Senators Lott and Breaux standing willing to stay attuned to public winds, gales, and hurricanes generated by those advocating nefarious regulation and rules the patriots can, for the good of all, charitably oppose, exactly as they are intending to do now in aiding Medtronic under siege.
If there were tens, thousands, uncountable legions of such equally motivated gentlemen there truly is no limit to what our nation might be.
UPDATE: This link.